It was settled. Patrick's opinion made no difference to Tyler's decision to leave Toronto anymore. not that it should have anyways, I only met him last week/. She was throwing clothes viciously into the number of suitcases spread out on her bed as she told herself she wouldn't tell him she's leaving. Clothes occupied 2 of them already. She looked at the last 2 and the rest of the stuff sprawled across her room. /how the hell did I fit all this junk into my condo? I definitely didn't have this much when I first moved here She sighed whatever, I'll fit what I can, I'll pack it down tight
Finally, everything was packed and her room and the rest of her condo were spotless (except the things she absolutely needed). She was to stay there for 5 more weeks, and until Christmas break was over. This year, she wasn't going to her parents' house. Her parents and her Aunt Mina were going to Florida and she declined the invitation. Tyler lay on her bed and closed her eyes. She inhaled deeply. It smelled of men's deodorant.

"What will happen when I have to leave? In the next few days?" Patrick asked her while they lay in bed 2 days before the boys would leave.
"I guess...I'll be alone again," she said hiding the sadness in her voice. It was obvious she was getting attached to this boy extremely fast. Tyler couldn't decide whether it was a good thing or not.
"We come to Toronto a lot. Within the past year, we've been here 8 times. Phone calls? Emails? It'll be okay, right?" Patrick hinted for Tyler to give him some sort of hope to stand beside his.
She smiled "yeah, it'll be alright" something in the way he presented himself made Tyler want to believe every word that came out of his mouth. Patrick seemed content with her answer, with that as he pulled her closer and closed his eyes. His breathing patterns became calm and slow. Tyler did the same and they both drifted to sleep together in a tangled mess of nakedness, listening to the arguing of Pete and Andy coming from the next room.

Tears had sprung to her eyes as she recalled the last few nights he spent there. I feel like a child. It's ridiculous how silly I'm being. Normally, it was Tyler that told her friends how stupid it was of them to convince themselves that they were in love after a few days of knowing each other. Wait, who said anything about love?

"It's okay man, just tell her you lost your phone during a freak accident or something and that you don't know who answered it because you still cant find it." Joe tried comforting his buddy while waving away the make-up artists that insisted they needed to look perfect for their photo shoot.
"That's dumb, just tell her you have a girl on the crew and that she answered it because it was sitting there" Pete jumped in while inspecting, what he thought was, a job well done on his eye make-up.
"Naw, man, tell her it was Joe's girlfriend who came on tour with us" Andy tried to peek under the rim of Patrick's hat to catch his eye, but his head was too low so he gave up. "Seriously, a guy answered her phone, a girl answered yours, consider it even. What did the guy say anyways? It could have been a friend...or like, her brother" Andy tried to make Patrick feel well enough so they could have a decent handful of pictures
"He said Tyler left her phone in his room and he was going to return it" a voice came out from somewhere under that trucker hat.
Pete sucked in air through his teeth. It doesn't sound so great. "Pat," he was the only one that could call him that "did you ever ask her if she had a boyfriend?"
Patrick furrowed his brow under his cap "No, but... but I assumed that she didn't. She never pulled away from me or anything," he thought hard about this. She definitely didn't seem the type to fool around. But then again, he didn't know her super well. "Fuck...She played me didn't she?" he looked up from what he commonly used to isolate himself with- his hat. He looked at his band mates, who were looking at each other.
Pete was the one to say it "Yeah, Tricks, yeah, it looks like she did." This was definitely at the top of his 'Things-I- Never-Want-to-Say-To-My-Best-Friend List' He put a comforting hand on his shoulder and shook it lightly. It's true, it's happened to all of them before. They weren't exactly a huge hit yet, so they couldn't always afford hotels. And sometimes they needed to crash in a basement or two in each city. They'd always find a girl who wanted an innocent night with one of the soon-to-be rock stars. Who knew why, for bragging rights when and if they make it big(ger)? Maybe just for a little feel-good time with no strings? Whatever it was, it was supposed to be easy and simple. So why was it so hard on Patrick? It made Pete a little angry because he was basically the only one that realized Patrick's intentions this time were completely honest, and he didn't know why. Why did he choose to be so fond if this girl, the one that used his shamelessly? He looked down at the walking reason the band made it this far, the glue that held it together. Pete felt saddened immediately. He's never seen him so hurt.
"Let's go boys, we're ready to start" The photographer was getting restless.
Pete stopped and looked behind his shoulder. Patrick hadn't moved. "Come on, it's time to get you cute little face photographed" he tried to lighten the mood. When he still hadn't moved Pete walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder at the cell phone his friend had become so attached to lately.no new messagesno recent calls
This sucked, for the both of them. Pete put his hand under Patrick's elbow and lifted him gently. "Let's go, buddy"